Carlos, 7, and Giovanni, 6, have since won numerous wrestling tournaments and are sponsored by former Ultimate Fighting Championship title-holder Randy Couture.

They both train for three to five hours a day, seven days a week, including trips to Las Vegas every Saturday to train at their sponsor's gym. And they are teaching their two-year-old brother, Royce, the moves as well.

"The only difference between them and other kids is that instead of playing play stations for hours every day, these guys are training," said Kayanna Ruffo, the mother of the three fighters.

Ultimate fighting was once an adult sport. But not anymore.

Kids as young as five are taking lessons at local studios to learn the techniques of ultimate fighting.

"It's really brawling," said John Mutschler, the head instructor at The Bullet Hole training center in Victorville, describing the bare-knuckles fight moves of grappling.

Protective gear for the sport consists of thin gloves that expose the fingers, a groin cup and a mouth guard. At The Bullet Hole, grappling classes start at age five, and young kids usually don't wear any gear, as they are just learning the basic moves, Mutschler said.

In grappling, the wrestlers don't exactly hurt each other, Mutschler said — but they come really close.

Irvin Bounds, a mixed martial arts trainer at Joe Stevenson's Cobra Kai Gym in Victorville, described grappling as a series of submission moves, where one person chokes the other person out, and manipulates their joints, until one person "cries uncle."

He said that most parents bring their kids in to learn self defense and discipline, but that he also see parents who truly want their little ones to grow up to be UFC fighters.

They enroll their kids in mixed martial arts classes as toddlers, so they can start learning the basics.

"Whether they fight or not, the attributes they learn here will stay with them for the rest of their lives," Bounds said.

He added that it's the kids who don't have any discipline or direction that end up taking the moves they learn at the center to the streets to fight.

But for most, mixed martial arts classes are a time to vent, for both adults and kids, Bounds said. Adding that kids often get the desire to fight out of their system by the time they leave.

"Some people who come say they had a bad temper before, but they learned how to control it here," Bounds said.

The Ruffos got their boys involved in the trend for the social interaction and to learn self defense. Now the boys' training has turned in to a family affair.

Kayanna said that it's a good opportunity for her husband and she to spend time with their kids at the end of the day. They enjoy it, and so do their boys.

Especially Carlos, who said that he has wanted to be a professional wrestler since the age of one.

Rachel Byrd can be reached at 951-6232, or by e-mail at rbyrd@vvdailypress.com.